Concrete railroad ties are growing in popularity as a more robust alternative to traditional wooden railroad ties. One well-known difference between these two types of ties is the way in which the rails of a railroad are fastened to the ties. Wooden ties use a traditional spike and baseplate arrangement, wherein a baseplate is positioned on a top surface of the wooden tie, and the spike is driven through the baseplate into the tie. A top head of the spike engages a portion of the rail and holds it against the baseplate.
Concrete ties, on the other hand, use a pair of metal fasteners positioned on either side of each rail such that a single concrete railroad tie will incorporate four fasteners in total (two for each of the two rails). These fasteners generally each have two primary components in the form of a tower and a clip. The tower is rooted or cast into the concrete railroad tie such that an upper portion of the tower extends from a top surface of the railroad tie. The clip connects to this upper portion as well as a portion of the rail to bias the rail against the top surface of the railroad tie and hold the rail in place.
Because of the permanent nature of the mounting of towers relative to the concrete tie, an entire tie can be deemed unserviceable in the event a single tower is destroyed or otherwise damaged. Put another way, in the event a tower is damaged, the entire concrete tie must be removed and replaced with a new concrete tie.
In the unfortunate occurrence of train derailments, it has been found that multiple fasteners, i.e. clips and the upper portions of towers, can be destroyed in a single derailment event by the wheels of the derailed train. Unfortunately, when one or more fasteners of a concrete tie are destroyed or otherwise compromised by a derailment, there is a risk that the rail or rails will dislodge from the concrete tie, and cause a later derailment in the event another train attempts to use that particular railroad line.
As a result of the aforementioned risk, a railroad is typically shut down until the damaged concrete ties can be replaced. Concrete tie replacement requires multiple pieces of heavy equipment, so a shut down can last an undesirable length of time as the heavy equipment is procured and brought out to the derailment site, and the ties are replaced. This extended shut down period can lead to late deliveries which may translate into monetary damages, heightened shipping costs, and congestion on other railroad lines as trains are rerouted.
Due to the above noted problems, there is a need in the art for a temporary fastening system that will allow concrete ties that have damaged towers to remain in service until the damaged ties can be replaced.
The invention provides such a rail fastening system. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.